Root Legacy
by FreshNerd
Summary: Danzo is the boogeyman of the Shinobi world. What if he of all people gained a second chance. Dying changes a person.


Root's Legacy

Another oneshot. I will not be continuing it. Sorry just thought it might inspire someone.

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><p>Black eye snapped open. He checked his surrounding. It was an office no, not just any office. It was his office. He sat still and silent taking in every detail. A calendar hung on one wall. It was plain with no coloring. The day on the calender was wrong, but he realized that it was correct in a twisted way. He was suppose to be dead, killed by Uchiha Sasuke.<p>

His office. This was root HeadQuarters. He subconsciously reached for his right eye, but remembered that it was his useless blinded eye. The eye he had wasn't Shishui Uchiha's. He twitched his right arm and found it weak. He was just as he had been sixteen years before his death. He sat in shock and very slowly stretched his senses and felt loyal NE soldiers hidden and guarding him.

Danzo looked to the calendar and saw stared at the exact date. October ten.

His heart started beating wildly as killing intent flooded the base. Kyuubi was here.

"Protect Konoha. Help push the threat out of the village!" he shouted and stood up from the meditative state he had been in. He didn't need to hear them to know that Root had just left to push back Kyuubi. Last time NE had waited in the shadows, but this time he needed to keep Konoha from becoming too weak.

Danzo stopped moving as an idea struck him. He knew where the Kyuubi was going to be defeated at. Hopefully it would be at the same place.

Without so much as hesitating he blurred out of the base and started heading to the outside forest. He could hear the Kyuubi roar in the distance. He was going to lose a lot of loyal ninjas, but what he was going to get would be a hundred times better.

The KI that had been coming from the village had disappeared. It had appeared toward the direction that he had been heading. The location had changed, but not by much. It was still in the general location that he had been heading.

He felt nervousness as he reached the Kyuubi. The Ninetails was evaporating. Its body slowly turning into red mist. In the middle of it all stood the Yondaime with his wife crying over Naruto Uzumaki.

Danzo stayed silent and hidden. He listened to the Yondaime and Kushina Uzumaki. The more he listened the more shock he became. Sarutobi had fooled him to the bitter end. Uzumaki Naruto was the Yondaime's son. He hadn't known that. He known Kushina Uzumaki was Naruto mother, but the father had been a mystery.

He waited till the Yondaime died along with Kushina Uzumaki. He didn't want their last moment to be cursing his name. He walked slowly to the Yondaime's dead body and took hold of Naruto the new Jinchuriki of Ninetails.

"You will do great things. I'll make sure it." stated Danzo and he slapped his a seal on his wrist. An reverse summoning jutsu that would take him to HQ. A seal that he had created decades ago, to take him out of a bad situations quick. An ambush or capture.

Danzo appeared in HQ. He stood in the center of a sealing array. In a large underground room. He shifted the baby and struggled to hold the blond baby with one arm. It didn't help that the boy was crying his eyes out.

Shadows surrounded him. His followers had returned.

"Casualty." he ordered to the nearest Root Anbu.

"2." replied the masked ninja and seemed to struggle before saying, "Hundred."

Danzo frowned. That was a lot of manpower that he had just lost. He motioned for a female member of NE to near. She too like every member was masked except she was a captain of a squad.

The woman neared and bowed.

"Care for this baby. I don't want a single scratch on him. This baby here will be the future leader of Ne and Konoha." proclaimed Danzo with resolution he had never shown before. Who better to become his apprentice than the Yondaime's son.

Root ninjas stepped out of the shadows and one by one bowed.

The woman took Naruto and started shaking him. It was clear that she was inexperience with baby just by how awkward she held him. Little by little she adjusted holding the baby and calmed the crying. Root ninjas slowly disappeared.

Danzo quickly left. He needed to appear before the council and help the village regain control over the chaos.

The woman weaved signs with a hand up and her team stepped forward and waited for order.

"Obtain baby supplies. Bed, blanket, pillows, and clothes. Food is priority along with books. Instruction to baby care." ordered the woman. She took off her mask and snapped her fingers. The squad left soundlessly.

She had purple hair that was in a ponytail. It flowed beautifully down her neck. She stared silently at the baby and realized she didn't know the name.

Danzo hadn't said what his name was. The whiskers on the baby's face made him look fox like. Fox would be his temporary name, but she had to get rid of the mark, it looked like a birthmark that could be used to identify him and such things were not allowed in root.

Lifting a glowing green hand she slowly wiped his cheek. The skin pigment was slowly removed leaving smooth pink skin. One cheek side was whisker-less. She carefully wipe the other and removed the dark pigment.

She lifted her hand and stared at a tiny marble size pigment that she had removed. It thrived on chakra, which was odd, but curious. She flicked her hand and tossed away the black skin cells. It landed on the floor with a small splash. The Root ninja with cleaning duty would clean it later.

She quietly started walking to find a room. Danzo hadn't said where the boy would grow. She had to assume that Fox would grow in HQ until further notice.

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><p>The first thing Danzo noticed about Sarutobi was that the man was looking frantic despite how well he hid it. It wasn't the type of panic because the village was attacked. No, it was one of fear for someone.<p>

Danzo had helped by offering solutions to fixing what was destroyed. There was a large amount of casualty, but nowhere near the time it had first happened.

Danzo waited through the meeting. Waiting to see if Sarutobi still trusted him enough to tell him that the Yondaime's son was missing.

Sadly the Sandaime said nothing. Danzo felt slightly betrayed that Sarutobi didn't trust him. Everything that he had done had been for Konoha. He had done what Sarutobi was too soft hearted to do. He did what the Shodaime and Nidaime had done. He killed for peace. Sarutobi didn't understand that their enemies would destroy what they valued if they showed mercy.

It didn't matter. Soon Konoha would have a new Hokage. Once Naruto was ready. He couldn't hope to stand in the same league as Madara Uchiha, Nagato, Itachi Uchiha, Shishui Uchiha or even the brat Sasuke Uchiha. He had died and now knew that only the next generation would thrive or someone still in their prime like Madara. He would raise Uzumaki Naruto and mold him into the second coming of Hashirama Senju.

-/

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><p>Time Skip<p>

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><p>Balance<p>

It was important and necessary. Any ninja worth his salt could balance himself on a string. Walk over it like solid ground without falling.

He had started training Uzumaki at age three. He used unorthodox methods to make the boy obtain balance. A large two feet below sea level hole with a diameter of six yard was made. It was filled with sand and in the center was a cement table that had a single bar of chocolate. On the outer edge of the circle a single plank was placed connecting to the table that had the candy. Losing balance meant falling in sand and not getting the chocolate.

Danzo learned the first thing about baby Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto was borned determine. The small blond kept falling in sand and retried over and over.

Naruto had chased after the chocolate until he could walk over the thin plank. With each success the bridge became less and less wide until it was nothing, but a pole.

The three year old achieved his goal with sheer determination. Soon chocolate was replaced with broccoli when he realized that constantly feeding a baby candy as a reward would lead to a bad habit.

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><p>Creative thinking<p>

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><p>A ninja needed to always be creative. He started with small puzzles, which had immediately put a halt to the toddler's progress. At age four this training started.<p>

Danzo improvised. He completely recreated a base to just training Naruto. He had the blond think and come up with ways to destroy something or get something without nearing it.

First was the chandelier test. He had placed a breakable vase in the center of a room. A large circle was made around the vase. A line that Naruto couldn't cross. Above the vase was a chandelier hanging on the ceiling.

Danzo had asked what methods could be used to destroy the vase without touching it. It had all been about showing a room to Naruto and asking what could be done to achieve their goal. Each time was different. This taught Naruto to use his surrounding.

He than slowly started practicality and traps within that same year.

The boy was a genius when it came to traps.

Three ninjas would be passing through here. Each this and this height and weight this amount. Set up a trap to capture them.

Naruto had put the sleep agent to incredible use even managing to catch Root Anbu in the traps. At first glance Naruto's trap would look childish and simple. Yet, it was so much more complex. Anbus had stared stupidly at a chicken that had blocked their path before it blew up. The Anbus just barely survive the explosion. That wasn't the end though. The chicken's feather was coated in sleep powder. Powder is everywhere putting elites to sleep. Those that weren't caught in it are caught by a second trap. The trees surrounding them hide cans of odorless paralysis gas that had started spreading the the moment the chicken blew. Those hiding in the trees don't last long before they drop from muscle spasms or seizures.

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><p>Accuracy and deception<p>

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><p>A ninja needed to be deceptive to achieve his goal. He started basic manipulation. How to make people do what you want them too without them knowing you manipulated them.<p>

It could be used to gather information of make a person complete a goal for you. To get what you want you need to get them thinking first. Make them worry about something that you have no real interest in. Push a little, but to not pass a boundary where they'll push back. During their state of mind they'll become singleminded and drop protection for anything else. This was basic. It was one of many ways to use what you might know about the person your questioning.

Make people turn on each other by telling half truths. Never tell a person that they've been betrayed. It is effective when they come to that conclusion alone. Drop hints and guide them to their conclusion.

Make use of people's jealousy. Comment to a man that the woman he loves looks happy with another. Use subtle comments and keep from making the person angry toward the manipulator. Always remain calm and sympathize.

Acting is deception. Learn how to pretend you don't know. Always maintain eye contact when lying. Don't move your hands needlessly and reach outward instead of shrinking.

Accuracy means many thing. Words can have different meaning and intention Don't say needless things. Always use as few words as possible. Let a person imagine what you didn't say. It will make a person easier to manipulate with them fabricating part of your lie unknowingly.

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><p>Practical accuracy<p>

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><p>Every ninja needed to be accurate. In either his aim or the estimate of how much time he has left from being poisoned.<p>

Kunais were easy to train Naruto in. The boy was five and was already the picture of the perfect ninja. Social like due to Naruto having been escorted out into the village as part of his training. Anbus would pretend to be his parent just as he pretended to be their son.

Tactic/

Power/

Speed/

Advantage and disadvantage/

Knowledge/

Multiple tasks/

Monopoly/

Leading/

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><p>Years later. Naruto is Sixteen<p>

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><p>Danzo sat calm and reviewed the previous two years. He had introduced Naruto at age 14 into Anbu. No one had noticed the appearance of Naruto Uzumaki. After all he was Hokage. He played his facade perfectly. He was the kind Hokage and he was. It had been very hard to take the Hokage seat from Jiraiya, but he had managed. Jiraiya had left and said he'd be managing his spy network. It was pathetic to see Jiraiya try so hard to convince Tsunade to become Godaime. People had panicked when he became Godaime. They had expected him to declare war.<p>

He hadn't started war nor had he made use of his position to wipe out any threats.

He couldn't afford to fight a war that he would lose as he had last time. He instead waited for Naruto his secret weapon and successor.

He was buying time. Naruto little by little had been accepted. Anbus were loyally started to follow Naruto. Villagers had little by little saw a blond teen pass through the streets with the Konoha hetai. No one had notice Naruto's introduction to Konoha beside several Jounins.

Naruto Uzumaki had become a respected Anbu commander. A powerful prodigy that had blossomed in Anbu.

It had been a long waiting, but almost every villager knew of Uzumaki Naruto. Every single villager had heard tales of the heroic ninja that had saved their chunin cousin or father in a mission. People were starting rumors that the blond could be the Yondaime's son. With the similarity between them the villagers were starting to suspect Naruto as the Yondaime's son.

Danzo opened his one eye and looked toward his successor that had arrived.

Naruto stood relaxed. The Anbu commander was dressed in black Anbu uniforms with a katana on his back with no mask revealing a young and replica of the Yondaime.

"Its time you accepted your role and protect Konoha just as your father hade done before you Naruto." stated Danzo as he held the hat out to Naruto.

Naruto took the hat with a bow. The elemental nations had just had a giant shift in power.

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><p>News quickly spread throughout the Elemental nation. The Godaime Hokage had retired and chose a worthy successor. A sixteen year old from the Legendary Uzumaki clan and last surviving member. Uzumaki Naruto was announced Rokudaime Hokage.<p>

The Rokudaime Hokage was rumored to be a wind master and Fire master. The Hokage was blond with hair that reached his neck. The new Hokage is already said to have speed that would have matched the Yondaime Hokage.

To the other living Kages it was shocking that Danzo Shimura had given up being Hokage. Every village had been preparing for some form of attack with Danzo ruling Konoha and this made them more weary than before. For Danzo Shimura to willingly choose a successor meant the person was of his choosing. Anyone that Danzo would call Hokage clearly deserved to be carefully observed.

The world was changing again.

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><p>Please tell me what you think.<p> 


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